Pow! Detector

The power of Pow! rears its head in some strange places.

Reading about the new Fox show "Lie To Me," I discovered that the lead character's ability to detect lies by "reading" suspects' faces is based upon the work of psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman, a Surprise Central hero due to his work in his groundbreaking book "Unmasking the Face" (which he wrote with Wallace Friesen).

In it, Ekman outlines that Surprise is one of the seven basic human facial expressions, and describes a tell-tale facial twinge called "The Surprise Brow" as:

"...our body's way of forcing us to see more.  When our brows go up, it widens our eyes and gives us a broader field of vision. Surprise causes our jaws to drop and our mouths to go gape.  We're struck momentarily speechless."

Then again, perhaps I shouldn't be shocked at Ekman's influence on the show since one of its producers, the legendary Brian Grazer, is another Surprise Central fave due to his propensity of using the time-honored Surprise Brow-generating tactic of Time-Bombing.

Wednesdays on Fox at 9:00.  Enjoy!